Category: creative writing

  • Flying Thoughts

    Last time I flew Delta, the napkin that came with my little cup of coffee proclaimed the airline had been “Carbon neutral since 2020,” which might lead you to believe they are not emitting carbon; there’s a class action lawsuit pending now, which Delta is fighting. The writer of today’s napkin blurb stayed in safe…

  • Introducing: Climate Journal

    May 2024 be a year of questioning and seeing and being and responding to what needs attention. A year to nurture love, a year to take action.

  • The Invisible Suitcase

    I’m pleased to announce the publication of my first poetry chapbook. I hope you’ll check it out on Amazon or (better yet) at the publisher’s website, to support small business! https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-invisible-suitcase-by-elaine-olund/

  • Power Outage, August 20, 2019 I like the sound of the cars, passing lonely on the rainy afternoon street, the way the sound of the rain rises up like a wave crashing, then falls softly to patter. I like the way the Catalpa dances, tossing her branches like girls toss long hair. I wait for…

  • “Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” —James Baldwin I was struck this morning by the feelings that came up in a fastwrite about childhood. After reading it over, then turning to a review of recent news, I felt the endless echo of bullying and…

  • (Following is an excerpt from my novel, The Last Butterfly, that I’m workshopping this week at Colgate University in New York…feeling excited to reconnect with these characters…finally going to finish my edits/plot-hole fixes! It’s told in the voice of Luna, a 15 year old who lives in the deadzone of what was once central Indiana,…

  • Last night I woke in the teeth of the storm, shaking in a strange bed in a strange place. This time, it wasn’t a dream. I woke to thunder so loud I could feel it course through me, over and over, the way a bass beat at a rock concert vibrates in your spine. Thunder…

  • Write about a time you were rocked and felt held

    Take a deep breath. Let it out slowly. Feel your shoulders relax. Remember a time you were held, and rocked. Or a time you held someone, and rocked them. Any time you felt safe, held. Begin there.

  • Write about a time there were flowers…

    plump smell, like baby skin, blooming so beautiful so smooth (everyone says so)

  • Negative belief #452: “I don’t have it together.”

    Perfection is deception. Perfection is a poison pill packaged and sold next to the botox and collagen injections.